AUTONOMOUS OPERATION VERIFICATION DEVICE AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEM

• US 20180032079A1
• Filed: 02/12/2015
• Published: 02/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: NISHI, Masataka
• Granted Patent: US 10,459,446 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/09 Taking automatic action to avoid collision, e.g. braking and steering
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/0956 the prediction being responsive to traffic or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/00 Details of control systems for road vehicle drive control not related to the control of a particular sub-unit , e.g. process diagnostic or vehicle driver interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/0011 involving control alternatives for a single driving scenario, e.g. planning several paths to avoid obstacles
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/0015 specially adapted for safety
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/0016 of the vehicle or its occupants
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/00272 relying on extrapolation of current movement
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/00274 considering possible movement changes
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/16 Anti-collision systems road vehicle drive control systems for predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision otherwise than by control of a particular sub-unit B60W30/08
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/165 for passive traffic, e.g. including static obstacles, trees
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

A mechanism having an autonomous operation verification device having a function of determining satisfiability of expected operation and safety requirement under a predetermined operation-time precondition and determining occurrence possibility of hazard violating the safety requirement in a predictive manner and achieving operation safety of an autonomous system operating in an open environment is provided. A function for determining whether the expected operation and operation safety are satisfiable or not in a case where operation planning means provides a planned operation and evaluating the operation safety of the planned operation during operation is provided. Further, an autonomous system having a function of calculating an alternative operation by using the predictive determination function and recovering operation safety by avoiding the hazard is provided.

Claims

1. An autonomous system comprising:

internal state measurement means measuring an internal state value of a vehicle in question;

means for measuring an external state;

operation-time constraint setting means for setting an operation-time constraint limiting a possible range that could be taken by the internal state value until a predetermined time point;

means for setting an operation-time precondition limiting a possible range that could be taken by the external state until a predetermined time point by using the external state obtained using the external measurement means;

means for setting a safety requirement constraining a relationship between the internal state and the external state;

expected operation setting means for setting an expected operation for commanding an operation to be executed by the system in question;

planned operation calculation means for calculating a planned operation for the purpose of achieving the expected operation;

a constraint form conversion unit for converting all of the operation-time constraint, the operation-time precondition, the safety requirement, the expected operation, the planned operation into a constraint form with a quantifier; and

satisfiability determination means for determining whether there is a satisfying solution for the constraint form with the quantifier or not,

wherein the satisfiability determination means solves a satisfiability determination solution of the constraint form with the quantifier when the vehicle in question is operating based on the planned operation.

2. The autonomous system according to claim 1, wherein the satisfiability determination means includes:

an achieving possibility determination function for determining whether there is any satisfying solution of the expected operation and the safety requirement;

a hazard factor identification function for determining whether there is any satisfying solution of the external state and the operation-time precondition, and identifying a target performing dangerous operation violating the operation-time precondition;

a hazard occurrence possibility determination function for determining whether there is anytime series sequence value in the outside state violating the safety requirement under the operation-time precondition; and

a hazard avoidance possibility determination function for determining whether there is any alternative planned operation satisfying the safety requirement under the operation-time precondition.

3. The autonomous system according to claim 2, wherein the satisfiability determination means notifies, to the planned operation calculation means:

safety of planned operation based on a result of the achieving possibility determination function;

a target for performing a dangerous operation based on a result of the hazard factor identification function;

a hazard factor based on a result of the hazard occurrence possibility determination function; and

an alternative planned operation based on a result of the hazard avoidance possibility determination function.

4. The autonomous system according to claim 3, wherein every time data of the constraint form with the quantifier is received, the satisfiability determination means outputs data of results determined by the various kinds of function based on received data, together with a registration time point and a valid period of the data, to the recording means.

5. The autonomous system according to claim 2, wherein the planned operation calculation means has a recovery function replacing the planned operation with the alternative planned operation to satisfy the safety requirement in a case where the alternative planned operation is obtained from the satisfiability determination means.

6. The autonomous system according to claim 4, comprising presenting means for a passenger,

wherein the satisfiability determination means notifies the safety, a target performing the dangerous operation, the hazard factor, and the alternative planning to the presenting means, and

wherein the presenting means includes:

a function for illuminating an abnormality lamp in a case where there is no safety of the planned operation;

a function for emphasizing and displaying a target performing the dangerous operation; and

a function for displaying alternative planned operation.

7. An autonomous control device comprising:

a constraint form conversion unit for inputting operation-time constraint information, operation-time precondition information, safety requirement information, expected operation information, and planned operation information, and converting all of the input information into a constraint form with a quantifier; and

a satisfiability determination unit for determining whether there is any satisfying solution of the constraint form with the quantifier,

wherein the satisfiability determination unit solves a satisfiability determination solution of the constraint form with the quantifier when the vehicle in question is operating based on the planned operation.